Puddles and Other Punishments
by completewithtypos
Summary: What happens when Minerva loses control over the class on a hot day? ADMM


Puddles and Other Punishments

_A/N: I don't own Harry Potter or anything that has to do with it. I just wanted to play._

It was too hot. And even worse than it being hot, it was humid too. The castle in Scotland rarely got this stuffy, and Minerva McGonagall was in a foul mood because of it. Despite several cooling charms, she was still sweating, her hair sticking to her face where it was beginning to fall out of her bun. She sat at her desk, attempting to grade final essays, while her fourth year, combination Gryffindor/Slytherin class, attempted to concentrate in their final class of the school year.

Their attempts were failing miserably. They were supposed to be transfiguring frogs into books and back again. Minerva looked up at the sound of a shriek from Hermione Granger.

"Mr. Malfoy, what are you doing?" she demanded, seeing his wand still pointing at the now dripping wet Miss Granger.

"Just cooling her off, like she asked," he replied sweetly.

"20 points from Slytherin for disrupting my class, Malfoy." She said, mimicking his innocent tone. The Gryffindors laughed. "Back to work, all of you," she said, but her tone was less severe.

Minerva went back to grading essays, and the room was quiet for a few minutes. Hermione cast a drying charm on herself, and wondered how to get Malfoy back. McGonagall liked her, she probably wouldn't get in too much trouble.

Double checking that no one was looking, Hermione Granger, Miss I-never-break-the-rules, fired a shot of ice cold water out of her wand at Draco Malfoy. He gave a shout, but when Minerva looked up, everyone was working intently, ignoring the boy. She had no idea who had done it.

"That is quite enough with the water," she said sternly, before returning to her work. However, it wasn't enough for the restless students. They felt that a water fight was the perfect way to end the school year, and soon people began shrieking in surprise when they found themselves on the receiving end of a particularly cold blast from their friends.

Minerva had had quite enough. "You will all receive detentions if this foolishness does not stop this instant!"

The students went on as if they hadn't heard her. In fact, after that, even more joined in. Soon water was flying in every direction, and Minerva stood behind her desk, yelling at them to stop.

All at once, the door swung open, and for a moment everyone froze. Albus Dumbledore stood in the doorway.

"Professor Dumbledore, would you please do something about all this?" McGonagall asked, apparently at her wits end.

"Certainly," he replied, and the twinkle in his eye gleamed brighter. Then, without warning, he pointed his wand, and Minerva was hit with a blast of water, that completely drenched her.

The students laughed and cheered, and as for Dumbledore, he was preparing to run to avoid being hexed into the next school year, but the anger on Minerva's face was suddenly replaced by tears. Even from across the room, Albus could see the tears running down her face, mixing with the droplets of water that were falling from her hair.

"Class dismissed," he said, and the students grabbed their things and hurried past him out the door. When the door shut behind the last student, a very worried Hermione Granger, Albus crossed the room, and pulled Minerva into his arms.

She threw her arms around his neck, and sobbed into his beard. Her knees gave out, and he slid down to sit with his back against the wall, with her in his arms. When her crying slowed, Albus began to whisper to her. "I'm so sorry, Minerva. I never should have done that, it was very immature of me…"

She looked up at him for a moment, "It wasn't your fault, Albus. I've just had the worst day! It's so hot, and the essays I was grading were terrible, and that Malfoy boy is so irritating, I just lost it. I'm sorry…" she buried her face in his beard again, slightly ashamed of her outburst.

"Minerva, don't be sorry. Everyone has bad days, and believe me, the last day of the school year is usually the worst of the bad days. I remember some quite vividly." He soothed, his hand rubbing small circles on her back.

Minerva realized how comfortable she was, resting against his chest while he held her. She thought she could get quite used to this. Albus was thinking the same thing; how perfectly she fit into his embrace. He thought that he'd like to hold her more often.

"Minerva," Albus spoke again at length, "I am sorry for causing you more grief today. Please accept my apology, and know that you can come talk to me whenever you want to rant about anything."

"I accept your apology, Albus." She said, quietly, "And thank you for being…you." She told him, looking up.

At the same moment, he looked down. Their faces were so close together, it was only natural that they would kiss. Who started it, they would never know, only that when they pulled back, Minerva felt all her stress vanish.

"Do you have any idea how long I've wanted to do that?" he asked her.

"Probably only about as long as I have," she replied, snuggling closer and kissing him again.

"I've loved you for so long, Min." he said softly.

"I love you too." She replied, and he closed his eyes, preparing for another kiss, but was startled when he was hit in the face with a blast of cold water.

"What?" he cried.

"Well, you needed some kind of punishment for making me cry in front of the students." Minerva said simply.

"Yes, I suppose I did." He said, then kissed her. The new couple sat for a long time on the floor, exchanging kisses in a cold puddle of water.


End file.
